


Soleil, Dreadful dancer

by bluefirebabe



Series: my rp auditions [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Character Study, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Dancing, Gen, Late at Night, Light-Hearted, Sneaking Out, but uh enjoy this i guess, clumsy, i guess?, she can't dance but by the gods she is trying, this was originally an audition for a rp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:27:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23841478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluefirebabe/pseuds/bluefirebabe
Summary: Soleil can't dance, but she really is trying her best.
Relationships: Lazward | Laslow & Soleil
Series: my rp auditions [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861501
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Soleil, Dreadful dancer

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this as an audition for a roleplay so some of it might be a bit off with formatting? All criticism welcome. Anyways, enjoy it here as a one shot!

It was an old dance, one she had seen her father perform many times. He had learned it from his own mother, but hadn’t yet taught it to her for some reason. Maybe it was because she had no skill, or maybe it was because they were just too caught up in battle to have time for those sorts of things. Still, that didn’t mean she had no free time! She could usually find a spare hour or two to head into town for her own enjoyment, but her free time never seemed to overlap with her father’s. Soleil had shirked a few of her own duties to sneak off and watch him practice his amazing moves, and had managed to memorize the steps of the dance. The hard part was performing them. She was one of the worst dancers in the army!

Soleil practiced at night by a clear, reflective lake, just outside of camp’s field of view, not wanting to be seen by others. It was so dark she wouldn’t have been able to even see herself, had it not been for the torch she’d attached to a nearby tree. She glanced down at her own feet while trying to remember how to do each step. And one and two and… ow. Again, her two left feet had messed her up. The clumsy girl looked at her reflection in the water and then took a deep breath before continuing the same way she just had, only briefly pausing to consider what she had done wrong.

“C’mon, focus!” She outstretched her arms more during the next spin, preparing to jump. The awkward dancer managed to get more rotations in as she spun, but looked down at her feet and came crashing down before the move was finished, landing on her ankle. Despite the failure and pain, she kept a big smile plastered on her face. There was no way she was giving up, she needed to get this right! Her plan was to show it off to her father once she had it perfected, to surprise him and make him happy. Soleil knew that he smiled even when he, too, felt hopeless. After all, he had been the one to teach her that. It boosted others’ morale to see them both appear happy even in poor circumstances, and she wanted to be able to cheer her father up too. Plus, she looked even cuter when she smiled!

She sat on the ground for a moment, deciding to think. Getting all of the turns she needed in the air was difficult, and she had been stuck on that move for days. “But if that still isn’t enough… Do I need to launch myself higher? Ugh, how will  _ that _ look graceful?” Her father had told her he used to be an awful dancer too, but she refused to believe it. It was clear he, and his mother before him, were naturally gifted. Somewhere along the line Soleil hadn’t inherited the family talents. But that didn’t matter, because she was going to perfect the dance the same way he had. Standing up, she decided an even wider smile would help. Even if she lacked confidence in her ability to dance, she couldn’t show how embarrassed she was by her failure.

And so she launched herself right back into dance, this time not staring at her own clumsy feet. Her smile became genuine when she managed to complete all of the spins. Soleil didn’t dance past that part, freezing after landing. She knew she had it in her! All of those nights spent practicing instead of sleeping were worth it! The adrenaline got rid of the exhaustion she had, and she started the dance again, hoping to get even farther in the routine. The biggest hurdle was cleared, and all that was left was to learn the last few moves, and then refine it all! “Heehee... I knew I could do it!”

After more time spent practicing, she realized just how much more there was to learn. Soleil could only complete half of the dance without falling over, and even then it was clunky and awkward. “No biggie, I’ll just have to try even harder!” There was no way she was giving up, however, so she continued practicing until the sky began to lighten. If she wanted any sleep at all, it was best to sneak back into camp. She needed to have energy to practice the next night and every night after that if she wanted to be ready for her dad’s birthday. Plus, she wouldn’t look as adorable as usual with bags under her eyes! She kept the corners of her mouth turned up and headed back to camp, doing the odd twirl or leap on the way, still overjoyed she had made any progress at all. Truly, she was an awful dancer, but there might be hope for her yet!


End file.
